Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-11

are bOrr, not made, baby tenders, sits
near, with delicate grand-2iece on her
lap. She is lulling her to sleep, against
her will and knowledge, rot by singing,
or even by the semi-rbyCbmic Groom nat
uTal 20 the good nurse, but by tsl5ing 10
the child. The Ifsue one does not COM
prehend one syllable of the Iuw-voiced
mOnOIogue that has no more sense CT Sc
QGeGCe than
The noise of a hidden brooz
in the afy month Of June.
but it IS in iulI accord with tone AID
spirit The 0dSy, somewhat shre24sh
Jenny Wren who built in the WistaTiq
outside Of my window last spring talked
TO her young il the same Eey; slipped as
Geftly from one legat0 note 10 the EtSt,
lest the vibration Of pause might snite
rudely on the hearing of her Ut sting.
To 'ar tn tympanum OF cur baby is to
give actual pain. One fragile girl ten
raOnths cid, sleeping swee.ly in her
mothers arms on the night Of July 3,
awoRe st the report of giant" fire
cracker IN the street to die IN commissions
an hour later. Another, younger bat
more robust, was thrown into violent
spasIns by the "harmleSs fun" of Young
uncle who C!apped his hands close to her
ear. There is something more than "fus-
sj1ess" in the effort of the mother TO
keep the house quiet when baby Is not
we'll; wisdom in the Injunction not TO
awaken him by 8 sudden noise. His ex-
IRENE susceptibility 10 sound is not mere
II physical. He learns at 81 incredibly
early age to distinguish between tart
snG gentle torres. Before he can speak,
his heart is 81 pOlian Tyre to the airs that
breathe or roar through the nursery.
nave seen mothers show eff the sensitive
ness Of Infants by addressing them with
feigned sharpness. The wide, startled
eyes, the trembling lip "pUt Up' as only
grieyed babies do, the breast heaving with
the sob that means keart-bTeak as surely
as could the moIheg's mean if her child
lay deed ia her sight, were certainly 8
curious spectacle, WneE one reflected
whose hand had dealt the blow, and why.
Other children soon grow callous TO
sternIess Of speech or look through fire.
queut practice Of the same upon them
Who does not know tJGdier5 WHO can
hIIdly tie one word to another, Yet laugh
at and initiate with mOukeyISl fidelity the
viragOish lntUn2.iCn> Of their CuStOGianS?
We need in our nurseries such 4 men
tC- IS the orator had in the slave con
CeS.et behind the rUstrHm with pitch
pipe 20 sound the recall 10 the register
best adapted to his voice when be became
harsh or shrill Ii defamation. The OLD
fashion Of speaking in s. high key and
louCIy to the baby may account for more
than we admit in the formation Of the
voices of cur adults. A popular authors
mention, in the description OF q COntineG-
taI ball, of "sWeet-f6Ced, shrill-yoiCed
American girls TaSp5 the national
vanity the more roughly because
EDGED with truth. The habit comes
with the Child from the nursery,
whether the mother or the nurse be the
teacher. We fill into the Tick Of raising
our toner with him as most people speak
to a foreigner as if he were deaf We
pound language into Blby's years. Let
him who doubts it recall how readily he
traces the progress of the household pet
from room to room by the din his coming
awakens. BY the time the exquisite
membranes which are the outer sentinelS
Of the brain cease to culver aChingIy uE-
der the beats Of sound, he has caught the
timbTe Ct his educators aud is repro
blted as nuisance, or tolerated De
cause ''ail children are noisy"
The mother Of John and Charles IVES
ley and IF seventeen other children, in an
extraordinary lfttlT or her methods Of
family government, says: "Wben turned
i year old lard some before they were
taught to cry softly, Gnd Inst most OdiCUs
noise OF the crying q children was rarely
heard in the house, but the family usual
~ lived in as much quietneSs as If there
rad not been 4 child among them" This,
she states in so many words, Wss accom-
plished by the fear CT the rod" The in
fueGce Of example and loving precept, -
much more potent than correction as the
sun than the who'd, would tone down our
yoHnglDg until ''boisteroGs" ceased to
be synonym fer the name given him in
baptism.
In this reform you, the mother, mus!
take the lead; must hold the pitCh-pipe
for yourself and others. Accustom your
self alWsys 10 speak to the baby more
softly, and not more loudly than to the
rest of the family. As your face makes
his sunshine and clouds, let your voice
attuGe his spirit to gentle moods, calm
him when perturbed, implant just ideas
OF refined speech.
"YoUr voice reminds me of my
mothers, as she used to sing 10 me at
twilight, twenty-five years ago." said
young man to a prima donna. People
smiled st the gaucherie, but the canta-
triCe put out her hand, impulsiyelY:
ct ank you for the pre.tiest compliment
l ever had."
Sing to your children, if you can turn
tune. 1t is worth your while to cultivate
your voice now, if you never did before.
Nowhere else-perhaps not even in
HeaVen-Will you have such loving and
generous audience as in the nursery.
A boy three years old had to undergo
painful operation. It was not thought
safe to give him an arRsthetic, and as he
was a manly, sensible little fellow, the
physician explained this to him, exhorting
MIN to shear the pain bravely like 8
soldier." elf mamma will sing! was
the answer, as the small fingers fastened
u2on hers. With the qukity of courage
pessimists fancy went out Of the world
with martyrs Of old, the mother sat by the
sufferer While knife AID needle did their
wOrk-the psllid face and the clutch of
the tiny hand told how cruelly-snd sang
softly, sweetly, clearly, the songs her boy
lGged best, the lul!abies that had put the
well, happy baby to sleep times without
number.
Another picture, and Ike the above
taken from life, rises before NE. A pale
mother. holding her cight-mOnth- old girl
in her arms for two days and two nights,
While brain fever ard marGsmus sspDed
the precious lfe-singing, hour after
hour, songs merry and plaintive, hymns
of cheer and psalms Of comfort, chants,
nursery rhymes, plantation melodies-
as memory mechanically supplied them,
until endurance became q miracle. For
only while she sang did the CONFUSED
frame lie nniet the wild eyes Close IN